The new chairs for Menlo Park’s bicycle and transportation commissions are looking to boost bicycle safety this school year after three Hillview Middle School students were injured in collisions with motorists in the spring.

Bicycle Commission Chairwoman Cindy Welton, who assumed the role this summer, said the commissions are trying to work better with the schools and police to reduce bike injuries through education and encouragement.

“The No. 1 collision factor in Menlo Park is speed,” Welton said. “If you visually narrow the road, even with paint, it makes a big difference. … (Also) a lot of drivers don’t know what sharrows are and they don’t understand why bicyclists are riding where they are riding.”

A recent report from Get Healthy San Mateo found that 39 percent of all collisions involving bicyclists and pedestrians happen within a quarter-mile of a school.

Welton said two “bike rodeos” were held this week to educate roughly 300 local sixth-graders in safety, with assistance from Menlo Park police Officer Mary Ferguson. She added that the Menlo Park City School District is currently without a Safe Routes for Schools coordinator.

“We want to prepare the kids to safely interact with traffic — such as signaling for turns — (and) give the drivers a view of what they’re doing,” Welton said. “They’re no longer third-graders riding with their parents. They’re going to be riding on their own and they need to be aware of safety.”

The two commissions are trying to get planned infrastructure in place sooner, and to get more families with schoolchildren engaged in the city’s political process.

“In Palo Alto … the council’s the one driving it, whereas we’re kind of lobbying our council to do something — it’s a different mind-set,” Welton said. “People move to Menlo Park to raise a family and they expect it to be very bikeable and family-oriented. … I think it’s a pretty good barometer of the need for change when the mayor and some of the council members’ kids don’t walk or bike to school. How is that OK?”

Community members can email the entire City Council at city.council@menlopark.org, which Welton said “does matter because it becomes part of the public record … (and) the council responds to them.”